Zebra Girl vs the World

Hi! I'm E, and this is my disability blog.

[hapalopus]

Pros of having ADHD:

Can track prey for hours without losing focus

Special interest: basket weaving

Always fidgeting - banging rocks together and discovers flint-knabbing

Distracted by berries

Stimming by making noises, discovers the sksksk that lures out squirrels

Can't sleep at night, great at guarding the cave while family sleeps

Sensitive senses means discovering and refusing to eat rotten/poisonous food

Sees bird eat nut - impulsively tries it too and discovers that nuts taste good

Cons of having ADHD:

Can't do homework

Impulse buys

Can't use a calendar

Can't sit still in classroom

[smute]

born in the wrong generation

[specificfuckery]

[lyrapuppy]

Well fuck

[dothepropaganda]

wow, what a gorgeous month to remember autism isn’t a disease and there’s no “cure for autism” and there shouldn’t have to be one just because allistic people can’t get the hell over themselves and realise other people experience the world differently and have different needs and require different accommodations. terrific.

[trilllizard666]

autism is literally a neurological and development condition but ok sure yeah keep with the feel good platitudes, you absolute tit

[werewolf-cuddles]

There’s a strong difference between a “disease” and a “condition”, you absolute tit

[sindri42]

Think of it this way. 83% of computers (laptop and desktop) use Windows. 13% use Mac. The vast majority of software is developed for windows, with another significant fraction developed for or adapted to mac, because that’s what most people use and it’s all most people understand.

Now imaging you’re one of the 1.4% of computers are running Linux. This doesn’t mean you’ve got a windows machine with a virus, it doesn’t mean your computer is broken, it doesn’t mean it needs to get replaced with a more common operating system. It’s not quite as good at some things most people take for granted, but it’s significantly better at a bunch of other things. But if you have a problem with your computer, the vast majority of people won’t have any idea what you’re talking about. They’ll give advice for how to deal with a similar issue on their own computer, and it will be worthless. The only people with any idea what you’re going through are going to be on linux forums. And you can mostly muddle through all the things everybody else can do with improvisation and lots of WINE, but it sure would be nice if the devs of that video game you were looking forward to would like, acknowledge the existence of your demographic.

Now imagine that on top of all that, the primary linux support system had been taken over by a bunch of assholes who’ve never so much as looked at a command prompt in their lives. but who have declared themselves the Voice of Linux Users and keep spending millions of dollars on campaigns “educating” everybody about how using linux makes you a fundamentally bad and stupid person so your laptop needs to be burned immediately to force you to get a correct computer.

[werewolf-cuddles]

i love that analogy so fucking much

[siblinghandgrenadeofqueerness]

As an IT person who uses linux and as a mother of one, possibly two autistic kids:

This is an excellent analogy.

[chaoticautie]

I will never not reblog this.

[thisblogisdead104-deactivated20]

Being disabled but seeming functioning is annoying because no one takes you seriously. I’m in excruciating pain all the time, but the moment I say anything or make my accessibility needs known, I’m simply just complaining and making a big deal out of nothing.

[rosslynpaladin]

Weird Experience: Comforting people as you explain your Chronic Condition

Empathy can have funny effects when you have to try to get people to understand your diagnosis/life with an Chronic Illness. 

It’s like you have to ease them into the idea, and then pat them on the back and try to cheer them up while it sinks in for THEM that YOU have an incurable condition. 

Their entire world view is predicated on the idea that “all illness is temporary”. They genuinely cannot cope with the idea that someone will not Get Well Soon. And YOU have to be one to ease them through this existential crisis.

You can’t just say to people, “No I am not doing anything much until the one thing at the end of this month, because I am still sick, and will be still sick for the foreseeable future. Getting into a remission will require a few years of steady slow work which might not have any effect even if I do everything right. I am sick. I shall be sick. This is my LIFE now. I’m sad, yes it’s not what I wanted, but I’m a person not a tragedy so hold off on the pity okay?. No, there’s nothing to be done but what I am already doing. “ 

And you can’t say this because THEY will panic and be offended by your total bluntness. 

You have to protect their emotions about your condition. It’s weird. And an exhausting dance to do over and over again.

[13faeinapenguinsuit]

That autistic / ADHD feel when you want to do… something.

[shinybluething]

I call this “activity cravings” because it’s like when you want a certain food but you aren’t sure which food. But for activities.

Do I want to go for a walk? Play a game? If so, what kind of game? DO I want to make things? Read? Watch tv? A movie?

[letschristianfeministus]

then when that executive dysfunction comes into play and since you could do literally anything in the world, you end up trapped and unable to choose anything to do at all, and do nothing instead but live in that restlessness

[13faeinapenguinsuit]

One of the best additions to this post yet. This is one of those nuances of choice paralysis that people fail to understand - sometimes it is because we lack the executive function to choose, sometimes we want to do all the things and can’t choose.

[lokiago]

And, if your depressive anhedonia kicks in, even if you DO decide on something, you quit 10 minutes later because the thing just isn’t doing it for you.

[13faeinapenguinsuit]

afzklnieasf

[shiningechoes]

god this post is such a mood, all the time

[thantos1991]

Me on my days off from work

[ain-person]

Do I have “I’m Not Being Productive Enough” fatigue or “I Need A Break From Productivity” fatigue?

Will I become an overworked wreck or an underworked anxiety ball? tune in next w

[asymbina]

jeez just tag me next time

[afishtrap]

same damnit

[kyraneko]

as someone who regularly stops at the grocery store when hungry, stares at different foods for half an hour, and goes home without buying anything to eat an entire tube of saltine crackers because 1) am Hungry and 2) all this Maybe Food and none of it is Yes Food … yes, I just realized I have this same situation with activities sometimes

[13faeinapenguinsuit]

Ah, shit. You just made this post come back around and hit me in the ass callin’ me out.

[socialistsephardi]

[1dietcokeinacan]

Oh wow…………….say that

[evilkillerpoptarts]

LOUDER FOR THE PEOPLE IN THE BACK

[eenymeenypia]

Favorite Chronic Illness AUs

Coffee Shop AU

University AU

Grocery Store AU

DMV AU

Anywhere But My Fucking House AU

[beeth0ven]

what i mean when i say “disabled bodies are treated as public property” is that we are constantly under scrutiny, and everybody and their grandma has an opinion on how we should live our lives/treat our illnesses/cope. 

if you try everything you’re wasting money and desperate, if you don’t you’re not trying hard enough. if you work you’re not really disabled, and if you don’t you’re a lazy piece of shit mooching off the government. there is no winning. no matter what happens it is wrong. and everybody has an opinion on you- and god forbid you tell them off for it, that makes you an ungrateful bitch.

its like able bodied people cannot possibly fathom how disabled can be independent, thinking, capable beings, fully equipped to make our own choices in life. we aren’t alive so you have something to tear up over and talk about over dinner. we shouldn’t feel the need to tip toe around everybody and everything because we’re afraid of what kind of hell abled bodied people will raise.

[the-top-hat-anon-deactivated201]

[kittenwitchandthebadvibes]

[spoonielols]

[foreversickie-deactivated202012]

You know something bizarre that kind of hit me all at once today? How being chronically ill and searching for a diagnosis strips you of your humanity.

At least half of my life memories include laying in machines for hours, being poked and prodded and touched in places that are usually considered to be violating, having Drs put their fingers and tubes up my asshole and probed my vagina, put tubes down my throat, how I’ve lay unconscious on a table with a whole team of people surrounding me, they’ve cut me open and seen my insides, there have been camera’s inside of me, so many random men and women in the medical field have seen me naked- people that I don’t even know, some people that I’VE NEVER EVEN MET because I was unconsious during the process. Through all of the consious tests and procedures I just remember laying and staring at the ceiling- counting the tiles. “It’ll be done soon- just count the tiles and don’t you dare cry. You’re supposed to be the strong one. You’re used to pain, right? You’re a warrior. You are a warrior” But the truth is, no matter how much I tell myself that- I don’t feel like a warrior. I feel more like a lab rat.

And I’m not trying to advocate against the uncomfortably invasive processes of getting a diagnosis. I know the tests are important and theres not much that can be done to make you feel more comfortable. But can we just take a moment to acknowledge that a lot of us have been made to feel less then human just in trying to get a diagnosis. Thats not even taking into account the people that actively try to make us feel like we’re not worth anything when we can’t live up to societies ridiculous standards. Being sick in itself strips us of who we are.

I’m still in that process, and some of you are too. So I just want to remind you that your body is still yours. You are human and you are strong. You are a warrior, but that doesn’t mean you’re not allowed to feel. That doesn’t mean that you have to keep it in or hide the fact that you are in pain and you feel like you’ve been put on display in the most negative way. It’s ok to be upset. Its ok to talk about. Its ok to cry. It’s also ok to be positive if that is the kind of approach you like to take- it doesn’t make your pain any less valid if you remain an optomist. It doesn’t mean you haven’t struggled. It doesn’t mean you’re faking it if you prefer to use humor as a coping mechanism. However you need to cope (as long as it is safe) you do it. Because you are worth so much more than you have been made to feel like. You are important. Your life is important and you are loved. I’m here to acknowledge your struggle in the way I wish people would acknowledge mine. I’m here to say I hear you. I believe you. And I’m proud of you for fighting for your health and diagnosis. And if no one around you is saying it, I will. You are a warrior. And so am I.

[whatshouldwecallchronicillness]

I know this isn’t the type of thing I usually post, but I needed to read this today and I thought maybe other people do too.

[adhighdefinition]

From CBC’s documentary “ADHD: Not Just For Kids”

[ithelpstodream]

This week, the Office for National Statistics has added ready-made mashed potato to the UK’s official shopping basket, which it uses to measure inflation, and people are up in arms. Who buys a pre-chopped onion that costs three times as much as a whole one? How lazy do you have to be to choose a frozen omelette over a couple of eggs?

These kinds of convenience foods are an easy target. But for the 13.3 million people in Britain with disabilities – and those living with arthritis, chronic illness, recovering from injury or surgery, or undergoing cancer treatment – convenience foods aren’t just convenient: they are a lifeline.

This is an issue close to my heart. I’m a professional cook, but I also have a chronic pain condition, and there are occasions when I can’t even hold a knife. In times like those, I’m never going to opt for the impenetrable whole butternut squash over one that has already been diced for me.

https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/wordofmouth/2018/mar/16/pre-chopped-onions-arent-pointless-if-you-cant-hold-a-knife

[calderonbeta]

Nothing about us without us.  Image description: [pale purple and yellow background with dark text] This April, don’t support an organization that harms autistic people. [crossed out logo for Autism Speaks] Support one built by autistic people, for autistic people. [logos for the Autistic Self Advocacy Network and the Autism Women’s Network]

[capricorn-0mnikorn]

Reblogging to spread the word, cause evidence shows that Autism $peaks are classic horror movie villains.

[therothwoman]

Reblogging because I’ve always wondered who to support instead of AS.

[1863-project]

To every friend of mine who reblogs this, thank you. It means I can trust you. <3

[transdekus-moved-blog]

The two ADHD moods:

- I can’t do it

- I can’t stop doing it

[corvus-onca-sapien-deactivated2]

The two types of ADHD time:

- now

- not now

[quousque]

the two ADHD memory modes:

-I literally cannot recall the words that just came out of my mouth

-I can recite the opening paragraph of every single magic treehouse book

[anafrochicshayera-deactivated20]

[particularlyparasitic]

I appreciate this lots since I do 5/6 of these. And because of that a lot of people don’t know I’m anxious/have anxiety or therefore how to offer support